The large wildfires burning through Los Angeles have now destroyed at least 1,000 buildings, killed five people and caused a "high number" of significant injuries, authorities say.
Tens of thousands of Californians are under evacuation orders as five fires rage uncontained. Traffic jams prompted many to abandon their cars and flee.
Authorities said "hurricane-force" winds were fuelling the fires. The largest, in the coastal neighbourhood of Pacific Palisades, has been declared the most destructive in the city's history. The cause of the fires is unknown and under investigation.
"What we saw here in the last 24 hours is unprecedented," LA Police Chief Jim McDonnell told President Joe Biden at a briefing in Santa Monica on Wednesday morning, local time.
"I've never seen anything like this."
Fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades ran dry about 3am on Wednesday, and a lack of water in holding tanks was blamed for a drop in water pressure.
There are reports of ongoing problems with some hydrants and residents have been asked to conserve water.
The National Weather Service warned of "extremely critical fire weather" along parts of the southern California coast, with wind gusts of up to 130 kilometres an hour. The LA County Fire Department said "extreme fire behaviour" could continue into Thursday.
An evacuation order was expanded into densely populated Santa Monica neighbourhoods on Wednesday afternoon.
Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin said emergency crews had been pulling people from burning buildings and helping them evacuate through blocked streets.
"Our death count today would be significantly higher without their actions," Chief Augustin said.
More than 1,000 firefighters are battling five blazes:
- The Palisades fire, affecting the exclusive Pacific Palisades area along the coast, home to many celebrities near the Malibu and Santa Monica beach communities. This fire has burned more than 6,500 hectares, destroyed an estimated 1,000 structures, and caused a "high number of significant injuries to resident who did not evacuate", authorities said.
- The Eaton fire, which has burned more than 10,600 hectares in the Los Angeles national forest and the Altadena area, north of Pasadena to city's north-east. At least five people have died in that fire.
- The Hurst fire, which erupted about 10pm on Tuesday in the Sylmar region on the city's northern outskirts in the San Fernando Valley, quickly grew to 300 hectares and prompted the evacuation of 3,000 residents.
- The Lidia fire started on Wednesday afternoon and quickly expanded to 144 hectares. The brushfire, which is 30 per cent contained, is burning near Acton, a small residential community about 80km from Pacific Palisades.
- The new Sunset fire in the Hollywood Hills broke out late on Wednesday evening and is also uncontained, sparking an evacuation order for tens of thousands of people. The area includes the iconic tinsel-town sign, the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Hollywood Bowl.
[datawrapper: map]Earlier, another fire burned through at least 30 hectares in the Sepulveda Basin, north-west of downtown LA, but was brought under control on Wednesday.
Hundreds of homes, many of them multi-million-dollar mansions, are believed to have been destroyed. Churches, restaurants and other businesses have also burned. At least five school campuses have been damaged.
More than 400,000 properties in California were without power on Wednesday afternoon. Others in LA have reported intermittent outages.
"Last night was one of the most devastating and terrifying nights that we've seen in any part of our city, at any part of our history," LA city council president Marqueece Harris-Dawson said.
Paris Hilton, Mandy Moore and James Woods are among the Hollywood stars who shared on social media that their homes had likely been destroyed after they were forced to evacuate.
Actor Jamie Lee Curtis said her "beloved neighbourhood is gone".
The Associated Press reported Adam Sandler, Ben Affleck, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg also owned homes in the area.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger compared the aftermath of the Eaton fire to conditions in "a third world country".
"Obviously as someone who represents the fifth district, we are prone to wildfires, but nothing like what I witnessed today," she said in a news conference.
"The Eaton Canyon fire is ripping through a community like I have never seen."
An event to announce the nominees for the Screen Actors Guild awards was cancelled. The annual AFI Awards Luncheon, scheduled for Friday, and Sunday's Critics Choice Awards have been postponed.
Several Hollywood movie premieres have also been put off, and some TV shows have shut down shooting.
The home of Vice-President Kamala Harris is among those in the evacuation zone, though nobody was there when the order was put in place, a spokesperson said.
Local fire chief Anthony Marrone said the county's 29 fire departments were all "drawn down with no fire apparatus or additional personnel to spare".
Firefighters had also been deployed from Northern California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state, he said, and more resources had been requested. Strike teams from Arizona were later sent to help.
Mr Biden said he had directed the Department of Defence to provide additional firefighting personnel. The Pentagon later said 10 Navy helicopters would be sent.
"We're prepared to do anything and everything as long as it takes to contain these fires and help reconstruct and make sure that we get back to normal," Mr Biden said.
"It's going to be a hell of a long way and it's going to take time."
